Scalia Vows Impartial Role On Supreme Court

August 6, 1986|United Press International

WASHINGTON -- Judge Antonin Scalia refused to be pinned down Tuesday on how he would vote on cases involving abortion, telling senators his only agenda if confirmed for the Supreme Court is to be an impartial judge.

Meanwhile, the Reagan administration agreed to show the Senate Judiciary Committee memos dealing with Justice William Rehnquist`s role in controversial Nixon administration policies from 1969 to 1971.

Senate Democrats said the agreement would head off a constitutional confrontation that threatened to delay action on President Reagan`s nomination of Rehnquist to be chief justice.

The memos were written by Rehnquist when he was chief legal adviser to then-Attorney General John Mitchell under President Richard Nixon. They involve domestic wiretapping and the administration`s plans for dealing with Vietnam war protesters.

``We are getting access to all we asked for,`` said Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

During his first day of confirmation hearings before the committee, Scalia discussed topics ranging from abortion to the death penalty to the high court`s work load.

``Senator, I don`t think it would be proper for me to answer that question,`` Scalia said, noting the issue was likely to come before the court. ``I would be in a very bad position to adjudicate the case without being accused of having a less than impartial view.``

Scalia tried to dismiss concerns from Kennedy that he was nominated to the court by President Reagan because of his anti-abortion views.

``I assure you I have no agenda. I am not going on to the court with a list of things that I want to do,`` he said. ``My only agenda is to be a good judge and decide the cases that are brought before me according to the law as I can best figure it out.``

Scalia added he believes a judge should excuse himself from any case in which he is ``personally convinced he could not decide the question impartially because he feels so strongly about the morality of the issue.``

Scalia, a Roman Catholic who is personally opposed to abortion, said he did not think his views on abortion fell into that category.

Scalia, 50, who attended the hearings accompanied by his wife, Maureen, and their nine children, displayed a ready wit and a sharp tongue during several hours of cross-examination by senators. The hearings were not marked by the rancor found in last week`s hearings for Rehnquist.